Sectors
Sector Update: Tech Stocks Gain Late Afternoon
Tech stocks were higher late Friday afternoon, with the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) rising 2.7% and the State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF (XSD) jumping 5.9%.The Philadelphia Semiconductor index climbed 4%.In sector news, the Trump administration is supporting Elon Musk's AI company xAI in its suit challenging Colorado's new law aimed at preventing discrimination by AI systems, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing a court filing. The law, set to take effect June 30, will regulate how businesses use AI tools in decisions involving employment, health care, housing and other areas, the report said. The US Department of Justice argued the measure violates the Constitution's Equal Protection Clause and would distort model outputs in ways that "discriminate based on race, sex, religion, and other protected characteristics," the report added.In corporate news, Intel (INTC) shares surged nearly 23% after the chipmaker reported late Thursday fiscal Q1 results above Wall Street's estimates as it benefited from AI-driven demand for its products.Meta Platforms (META) said Friday it signed an agreement to incorporate tens of millions of Amazon (AMZN) Web Services Graviton cores into its computing network. Meta shares rose 2.5%, and Amazon gained 3.6%.Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google is planning to invest $10 billion in Amazon-backed Anthropic with the possibility of an additional $30 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing a statement from Anthropic. Google has committed to investing $10 billion now at a $350 billion valuation, and could invest an extra $30 billion if Anthropic hits performance targets, the report said, citing the company. Alphabet shares rose 1.7%.Alphabet's Google and Microsoft (MSFT) are set to take part in a bidding process to select operators for a US data center being developed by SoftBank, Nikkei Asia reported. The decision, potentially coming as early as this month, is linked to a 10-gigawatt data center planned in Piketon, Ohio, which is part of a broader investment expected to eventually reach $500 billion, the report said. Microsoft shares added 2.1%.
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